The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

What is the Road Not Taken At first glance when reading Robert Frost’s poem "The road not taken," one might think that the traveler is deciding which road to take in hoping to not make bad decisions in life. Looking at two different roads as if one lead to hell and one lead to heaven. After reading the entire poem, I connected with the poem. It very clearly stated to me that the poem is about coming across to good roads, and not knowing which direction to take life into because of being afraid of missing out on what could have happened along the other road that was not taken. When two positive opportunities come about, and one not sure which opportunity to take advantage of, it is hard to make a choice. In the first paragraph of the poem, the narrator talks about the roads before him. When the narrator mentions the two roads splitting up, it is talking about two choices that have come about that he can choose from to change his own life. The narrator was taking a long time to choose a road because he could not see which road was better to take because you can not travel two different directions at once. "And looked down one as far as I could / To where it bent in the undergrowth” (4-5). The narrator recognizes what he can do, but cannot foretell where the roads will end up. The undergrowth represents the future being blocked from his vision. He does not know which road will lead him in a better direction or where his life will go because of the undergrowth blocking the way. The narrator wants to travel both because when two opportunities arise that both are appealing, it is hard to miss out on one because you chose the other instead. When two opportunities both seem appealing, regret can occur because of feeling like one has missed something more exciting on the other opportunity that had not been taken. "Then took the other, as just as fair, / And having perhaps the better claim” (6-7). Being “just as fair” says that both of the roads were of equal

Cited: Frost, Robert “The Road Not Taken.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 11th ed. Ed, X.J Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Longman, 2010. 859 Print Gerber, Philip L. Robert Frost, by Philip L. Gerber. F ed. New York: Twayne, 1966. Print. Parini, Jay. "On "The Road Not Taken"" Welcome to English « Department of English, College of LAS, University of Illinois. 1988. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. .